The benefits of routine oil changes to internal combustion engines are well known. Routine oil changes have been shown to increase engine life and performance. With repeated prolonged use, motor oil builds up metallic and non-metallic suspended particles from the abrasive and/or adhesive wear of engine parts against one another and from products of incomplete combustion and improper air intake. This adversely effects engine performance and, if left unchanged, can destroy or cripple the engine performance.
To obtain satisfactory automotive engine performance, changing the motor oil in an automobile engine is a necessary, but an undesirable, dirty, and time-consuming task. In currently designed vehicles, the oil pan serves the purpose of a reservoir for circulation of engine oil. Engine lubrication is generally accomplished through a Bear-type pump. The pump picks up engine oil from the oil pan sump, where oil is drawn up through the pick-up screen and tube, and past through the pump to the oil filter. Oil is routed from the filter to the main oil gallery and, from there, throughout the engine. In the filter, the oil passes through a filtering element where dirt and foreign particles are removed.
To remove contaminated oil, the drain plug, generally located in the lowermost region of the oil pan, is opened. The degraded (spent) oil containing suspended particles is permitted to flow under gravity out of the pan into a suitable receptacle. After the spent oil is removed, the used oil filter can be removed and replaced. The drain plug can, then, be replaced and fresh oil added to the engine; usually through a separate oil fill opening, such as in the engine valve cover.
The process of gravity drainage does not remove all of the spent oil with its metallic and non-metallic particulates because gravity drainage provides only minimum scrub cleaning or scouring action and cannot dislodge strongly adhering particulates and degraded oil components. A significant portion sticks to the oil pan walls, as well as to the surfaces and passages of engine components such as the crank shaft, connecting rods, pistons engine block, cylinder head and the like. These particles remain to be mixed with fresh motor oil. Thus the concentration of contaminants is lowered by dilution and only a part of the total contaminants are eliminated.
The oil change process is essentially the same whether performed at home, at service stations or at one of the various rapid oil change centers which have opened in recent years. Spent or dirty oil is allowed to collect in the oil pan and is, then, permitted to drain from the oil pan through the drain plug opening located in the lowermost portion of the oil pan. The drain plug opening is, then, closed and fresh oil is added to the crankcase and oil pan through a suitable opening such as the valve cover.
The commercially available oil change process is also limited by the time required for oil drainage. The flow rate, or time required for oil drainage, is the same for each of these locations, because it is limited by the size of the drain plug aperture and the force of gravity. Service stations and other locations simplify the process of oil drainage with the use of hydraulic racks, special oil collection receptacles and the like. However, this specialized and expensive equipment is not readily available to the typical automotive owner who may wish to change the oil in his vehicle at home.
The do-it-yourself individual typically believes that if you want a job done right, you do it yourself. However, the current design of vehicles does not lend itself to do-it-yourself oil changes in a convenient clean and effortless manner. Many vehicles have low ground clearance making it difficult to access the oil drain plug for removal of the spent oil, and also making it difficult to collect the oil without contaminating the surrounding environment.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus which accelerates removal of spent oil from the oil pan and the filter more completely and easily from the crank case. It would also be desirable to provide a system which reduces the amount of spent oil handling as required in the conventional oil change service station. Finally, it is desirable to provide a method which could be easily employed by all the vehicle owners whether at home or at a convenient service station with the benefits of time and money savings, convenience, and longer lasting, better performing engines.